Louis Cohen - Biography

Louis Cohen (January 1, 1904 – January 28, 1939) was a New York mobster who murdered labor racketeer "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan and was an associate of labor racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. He became an informant during the late 1930s, and was killed along with Isadore Friedman shortly before they were to testify against Buchalter.

Biography

Born Louis Kerzner, Cohen was a minor criminal in the employ of racketeer Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen when he was hired by lieutenants Louis Buchalter, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro and Jack "Legs" Diamond to murder rival mobster Nathan Kaplan. He later killed him while under police escort outside the Essex Market Court House in lower Manhattan on August 28, 1923. Immediately arrested by police, he was subsequently convicted of Dropper’s murder and sentenced to 20-25 years imprisonment at Sing Sing Prison. Released on parole in 1937, he began talking to investigators within two years on the streets and eventually agreed to testify against Buchalter. However, he was gunned down on January 28, 1939, shortly before his scheduled testimony.

Footnotes

• Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3

Further reading

• Chiocca, Olindo Romeo. Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-55071-104-0

External links